Tablets are neat tools to have becomes they usually come with everything you need from a useful smart device. While tablets do indeed have multiple cameras that you can use to take photos and selfies with, the fact that their front cameras don’t always have the best quality might lead you to use a webcam for your tablet especially if you are after the best kind of quality when you are using your tablet for online meetings or anything that demands quality. So, if that is the case, how can you connect a webcam to a tablet?
You can connect a webcam to a tablet by making use of an app that can connect to wireless webcams that are capable of connecting with tablets and smartphones. Or you can use a USB-C OTG adapter that will allow your tablet to make use of a wired USB webcam instead of a wireless one.
While it might not be the most convenient or the easiest way for you to get the best quality videos and photos, using a webcam can indeed be useful for your tablet especially if you already know how to properly set it up. However, because setting it up isn’t the easiest thing to do, make sure that you read our article to find out how you can connect a webcam to your tablet.
Can you connect a webcam to a tablet?
When it comes to modern devices today, tablets are some of the best and most versatile gadgets that you can own. That’s because they come with most of the capabilities of the smaller smartphone and are just big and nearly as great to use as laptops are. In that sense, you can say that tablets are kind of 14like the cross between a smartphone and a laptop in terms of their capabilities and size. Of course, you can do most of the things that you do with your laptop when you are using your tablet.
One of the things that you might do when you are using your tablet is to attend online meetings and classes. After all, tablets are lighter and easier to carry than laptops are. And they are larger than smartphones. This makes them perfect for those online meetings and classes that you attend while you are on the go.
Or, if you are not attending meetings or classes, you might be using your tablet for streaming purposes such as when you are a vlogger and you want to stream a certain activity that you are doing at any given moment. This is where a tablet can be useful because of how it comes with the capabilities that will allow you to live-broadcast what you are doing without the need to carry it around in your hand like a smartphone.
But the problem here is that tablets don’t always have the best front cameras, which are the cameras you use whenever you want people to see you whenever you are having meetings or when you want to broadcast what you are doing. Because people at the other end of the food would want to see you clearly in the best quality possible, using the front camera of your tablet might not be the best way for you to broadcast yourself because how front cameras are usually not as good as the rear cameras.
So, if you wanted to find an alternative just like you can use an external webcam for your laptop because, let’s face it, laptops also don’t have great built-in webcams, can you actually also use an external camera for your tablet? Is it possible for you to even connect a webcam to a tablet?
Not a lot of people are actually aware that you can connect your webcam to your tablet. Meanwhile, it isn’t uncommon for people to know that you can use your tablet or smartphone as a webcam but they don’t know that you can also use a webcam for your tablet or smartphone. That’s because not a lot of people have even tried doing this since they don’t have a particular reason for wanting to use a separate webcam instead of using their tablet’s built-in cameras.
Still, the fact is that there are ways that will allow you to use a webcam as the camera for your tablet. But the problem, however, is that doing so doesn’t involve the conventional means of just hooking the webcam up with your tablet and hoping that both of the devices are compatible with one another. Instead, you have to make sure that you have a webcam that is compatible with the tablet and a tablet that is actually capable of connecting to a webcam.
However, it’s difficult to really understand how a webcam can be connected to a tablet. You’d have to understand the master and slave relationship between different devices to see why it doesn’t make sense that a webcam can be connected to a tablet.
Basically speaking, a master and slave relationship in devices involves having the main device called the master, which is capable of controlling numerous other devices that are connected to it such as keyboards, mice, and, yes, webcams. Meanwhile, the slave devices are the ones connected to the master device, which is usually a computer or a tablet.
Most of the time, tablets are regarded as master devices because of how they can be connected to other slave devices and use them. This includes keyboards and mice, among other different slave devices. But, if we are talking about the tablet in terms of its camera features, it is more likely a slave device in the sense that it often is used by other devices such as a computer for camera features. This is where it becomes difficult to understand why a webcam and a tablet can be compatible with one another considering that, when it comes to camera capabilities, both of them are slave devices.
Still, the fact is that you can use a webcam on a tablet as long as the two devices are compatible and that you have the proper tools at your disposal. And that is something that we will be discussing more as we go along with this article.
Why would you connect a webcam to a tablet?
Now that you know that you can connect a webcam to a tablet, you might be wondering why you would even do that in the first place. After all, tablets come with multiple cameras that are already enough for most people. So, why would you even hook up another camera to your tablet if it already has enough cameras? Well, here are some of the reasons:
1. Not all tablets have cameras
Yes, it is true that most of the tablets we have today have cameras that can be found in the rear and the front of the tablet. However, there are some tablets that actually have no cameras that you can use. These are usually the ones that are on the cheaper side and are meant to be devices that you can use for entertainment, simple internet browsing, and eBook reading.
So, if you do have a tablet that doesn’t have one single camera on it, you can make up for that weakness by hooking it up with a webcam. Having a webcam on the tablet will allow you to use the tablet for selfies, video conferencing, and live streaming.
2. Some tablets have bad front cameras
The cameras in our smart devices are now improving to the point that there are some gadgets that have been bridging the gap between their cameras and professional-grade cameras. However, this is usually the case when it comes to the mobile device’s rear camera as that is the camera that is more useful in terms of taking photos. Meanwhile, the front cameras are usually lagging in terms of quality.
In fact, some of the flagship tablets we have today such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 and the Apple iPad have front cameras that can only have a maximum resolution of 720p. Some tablets have worse front cameras that stay within the standard definition range and are not capable of HD resolutions. So, if you want to make sure that you are providing your viewers or the other people behind the video conference a better quality of your feed, you may want to use a webcam that is capable of higher resolutions and better video and image qualities.
3. The cameras are damaged
It isn’t rare for some tablets to have cameras that have been damaged. After all, the lenses can get damaged when you drop the tablet or if something hits the tablet. While the tablet may still be usable and is still functional, it might have a camera that you can no longer use precisely because of how damaged the lenses have become.
So, in such a case, you can still use the tablet for taking photos and videos or for video conferencing or live streaming by using a webcam. This will allow you to still make use of the tablet’s other functions without having to buy a new tablet just because its camera was damaged and is already beyond repair.
4. You just need an extra camera
Finally, there are some vloggers or streamers that might need an extra camera whenever they are broadcasting what they are doing. So, even though a tablet’s cameras are already enough for most people, there might be certain vloggers or streamers that need an extra camera so that they could provide multiple feeds all at the same time.
That is where a webcam can be useful for a tablet as you can use it as an extra camera for your live streaming or vlogging. After all, the more feeds or angles you have, the more interactive your videos will be for your fans and viewers.
How to connect a webcam to a tablet
At this point, you already know that you can use a webcam for a tablet and you already know the reasons why you might want to do so. Now, all you need to do is to actually know how to connect your webcam to your tablet. Here is how you do it:
Wireless
So, one of the best ways for you to connect a webcam to a tablet without any additional peripherals to use other than the webcam itself is through a wireless connection. However, you have to make sure that you are using a webcam that comes with wireless capabilities and has its own apps that are compatible with your tablet. Here is what you need to do:
- Make sure that you have a wireless webcam that comes with its own app that is compatible with a tablet such as an iPad. Webcams with these apps include Logitech and Creative.
- Install a webcam app that is compatible with the abovementioned wireless webcam brands. For example, the My Webcam app for your tablet is compatible with both Logitech and Creative wireless webcams.
- Open the app and make sure that you follow the instructions so that you can connect your tablet to the wireless webcam through the app. You will now be able to use the webcam for your tablet.
- If you want to use the feed coming from all of your cameras, you can use an app such as AXIS Camera Companion. This can be useful for those who want to make use of all of their tablet’s cameras for different angles and feeds whenever they are vlogging or streaming.
Wired
The wired approach can be a bit tricky because of how you might make the mistake of treating both your webcam and your tablet as slave devices that won’t be able to connect to one another. As such, you have to have a tablet that is capable of acting as a master device. Also, you would need to have an adapter that will allow you to connect your tablet to your USB webcam while allowing your webcam to recognize the tablet as a master device. We recommend that you use this OTG USB-C adapter if you have a tablet with USB-C capabilities.
Of course, you also need to make sure that you have a webcam that is actually compatible with smartphones and tablets. You can check the manufacturer’s page to see if you can connect the webcam to your device. But, in most cases, newer webcams from reputable companies are capable of connecting to different devices. That said, here is how you can connect your webcam to your tablet using a wired connection:
- Connect the OTG adapter to your tablet. This should be possible if your tablet is capable of a USB-C connection such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7.
- Connect the webcam to the USB-A adapter on the OTG adapter.
- Make sure that you have a webcam app installed on your tablet as well. Refer to the abovementioned app if you want a good app for your tablet.
- From there, your tablet should be able to pick up the feed from the webcam as long as the webcam has been turned on.
- You can also use an app such as AXIS Camera Companion if you want to use the multiple cameras feeds from your tablet and the webcam.
